A Lincolnshire Police sergeant has been given a final written warning after using a police data system to carry out personal checks on a suspect he described as “a jammy git”.
Sgt Stuart Mumby-Croft, who was based at Grantham, passed on information from the police data system to a member of the public and he carried out personal checks on a suspect, referred to as person A, over a number of months.
In June this year he discovered that A had been arrested for an unspecified matter but had been released on bail.
That led him to send an email to a member of the public, known only as B, in which the officer referred to the suspect as a “jammy git”.
The hearing at Lincolnshire Police headquarters on Friday, September 28 was told that Sgt Mumby-Croft had previously been given advice about his use of police data systems.
But earlier this year he checked out details relating to A on police systems on a number of occasions.
Liz Briggs, for Lincolnshire Police Authority, said: “This clearly breached the standards of professional behaviour.
“The authority do not submit that the officer has acted dishonestly but he has acted without integrity.”
She said that Sgt Mumby-Croft broke regulations by accessing police data systems to search for infomation held about A when he had no legitimate policing purpose to do so.
Mrs Briggs said that after A was arrested Sgt Mumby-Croft contacted a senior professional standards officer with concerns that A was in breach of his bail conditions.
“His concern was that he believed A was in breach of his bail conditions.”
The information about A’s case was placed in a restricted area on police systems. The following day Sgt Mumby-Croft searched the system for details of A but was unable to access the information because it was restricted.
He then emailed B saying: “No sign of custody overnight! I can’t see the job because they have restricted it but I suspect that once again he’s a jammy git.”
Mrs Briggs said: “He disclosed information he should not have to person B.”
She said he had also accessed police data systems relating to A on other occasions when there was no legitimate policing purpose to do so.
Mrs Briggs added: “This set of circumstances seriously undermines public confidence in the police service. The public are entitled to expect a police officer to act confidentially.
“The conduct was planned, it was continued and it involved the onward disclosure of information. That makes this breach so serious that it justifies dismissal.”
Sgt Mumby-Croft , who has served as a police officer since 2007, admitted three allegations relating to his use of police data between March 21 and July 1 this year, breaching standards of professional behaviour involving integrity, confidentiality, orders and instructions, and discreditable conduct.
He also admitted that his behaviour amounted to gross misconduct.
He apologised for his behaviour and told the hearing: “I utterly convinced myself at the time that I was doing the right thing.
“I look back now and I feel stupid about that and I utterly regret it. It was a grave error. At the time I believed I was doing the right thing.
“I should have taken a step back and I should have gone to someone else and spoken to a superviser rather than take it on my own shoulders.
“I have always tried to conduct myself with honesty and integrity as an officer. I made a complete mess of this.”
Adam Birkby, for Sgt Mumby-Croft, urged that the officer should receive a final written warning rather than be sacked.
He said: “He acted in good faith. There was no actual or potential compromise of a police investigation as a result of the misconduct.
“When confronted by his misconduct he immediately admitted it in interview. He has shown remorse and insight into his own professional failings. He apologises wholeheartedly.”
Lincolnshire Chief Constable Bill Skelly, who carried out the hearing, ruled that Sgt Mumby-Croft should receive a final written warning.
He said: “I am clear that Sgt Mumby-Croft accessed information inappropriately. He was aware, at least to some level, that his actions were inappropriate. Sgt Mumby-Croft should have and did know better.
“I sincerely hope that Sgt Mumby-Croft learns from his mistakes and is able to use his experience to prevent others from making the same misjudgement.”
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There have been 114 new coronavirus cases and six COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Thursday.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 81 new cases in Lincolnshire, 16 in North East Lincolnshire and 17 in North Lincolnshire.
On Thursday, four deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and one each in North and North East Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.
NHS England reported three new local hospital deaths on Thursday, two at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust and one at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust.
National cases increased by 6,573 to 4,201,358, while deaths rose by 242 to 124,025.
The latest NHS England figures show that more than 271,604 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Lincolnshire so far — of which were 5,281 second doses.
According to the ONS Population Estimates for mid-2019, there were around 1,391,150 people in Lincolnshire, with 266,323 people receiving their first dose — that equates 19.14%.
Nationally, there has been a decline in the number of infections in England. However the World Health Organisation has said it is seeing a “resurgance in central and eastern Europe”.
Health minister Lord Bethell said the UK is the country most likely to suffer a new variant of the coronavirus.
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Thursday, March 4
53,996 cases (up 81)
38,091 in Lincolnshire (up 81)
8,126 in North Lincolnshire (up 17)
7,779 in North East Lincolnshire (up 16)
2,098 deaths (up six)
1,542 from Lincolnshire (up four)
300 from North Lincolnshire (no one)
256 from North East Lincolnshire (up one)
of which 1,238 hospital deaths (up three)
767 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up one)
41 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
Councils warring over the future of Lincoln’s Usher Gallery may be about to make peace after new plans were revealed.
Lincolnshire County Council and the City of Lincoln Council have been butting heads over the art gallery since the county announced it wanted to use the landmark as a venue for weddings and other events in a bid for it to earn its keep.
However, new plans lay out how the gallery could instead be split in two, with the upper floor being used for events similar to the recent Museum of the Moon and Dinosaur exhibits at the Collection, while the downstairs would remain an art gallery.
County Councillor Nick Worth, executive member for heritage, said: “What we’ve said in our plan going forward is that to make that work we would need to have some flexibility.
“That way we can bring in a revenue stream on that top floor that would make it financially sustainable and then we could work with the [art and artefact] collections to bring in some big events in cooperation with the Usher.”
He confirmed that other locations had also now been found for the registrars and coroners court to go, and that the county would remain happy to look after the heritage it already does so – meaning there would be no need for it to be transferred to Nottingham under the city’s current plans.
Councillor Nick Worth, executive member for Culture and Heritage at the county council. | Photo: LCC
Councillor Worth hoped the events would attract tens of thousands of visitors and would also allow more artefacts to be displayed on a themed or rotating basis.
Currently he said, around 10% of the millions of artefacts under the council’s stewardship are seen, but under new plans that would increase to 30-40%.
“There are some fantastic stories in that basement and I would love to see them shown”.
“It’s a very simple message: just give us some flexibility on that top floor of the gallery and we’ve sorted the problem. We can have some great collaborative exhibitions between the collection and the actual gallery.”
City of Lincoln Council leader Ric Metcalfe. | Photo: Connor Creaghan for The Lincolnite
Leader of the City of Lincoln Council Ric Metcalfe welcomed the new plans and urged a return to the negotiating table.
He said: “We welcome the county council’s decision to explore alternative uses for the space at the Usher art gallery.
“We always had concerns that the services they proposed to move into the building were a poor fit.
“As they have now announced that they are seeking to move to a more arts event-based offering at the Usher, we would welcome a conversation with them to hear more about their proposals.”
It is hoped The Usher Gallery will reopen later this year as part of the Prime Minister’s roadmap out of lockdown.
Lincoln Castle and Collection are hoped to reopen in April with other destinations such as the Museum of Lincolnshire Live, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and the Usher gradually joining them after with social distance measures.
Lincolnshire hospitals bosses have appeared before a high court judge to defend their decision to close Grantham Hospital A&E and create a “green site” against COVID-19.
United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust appeared before London’s High Court on Thursday to face campaigners’ accusations that the decision in June 2020 to replace the A&E with an Urgent Treatment Centre was unlawful and lacked consultation or risk assessment.
Campaigners argued that the move, which resulted in the loss of 70-80 medical beds, had not provided enough information, or involved patients enough and left service users without locally accessible services.
They argued patients could have been brought into discussions at an earlier stage.
Speaking on behalf of the campaigners, Vikram Sachdeva QC said they recognised the “difficult position all trusts in the country are in” and said it would not be “reasonable for the court to set a standard for them to adhere to”.
“The pandemic is the worst public health crisis in 70 or 100 years and let’s not beat around the bush, all over the country trusts are in real trouble and are still in real trouble, and are pushed to the absolute limits of their abilities,” he said.
However, he said the pandemic was not enough to justify a failure to consult the public.
QC Sachdeva added: “The primary question is did they make adequate arrangements to secure involvement? And when one looks at the evidence, there seems to have been a conscious decision not to involve the public until the proposals were out,” he said.
“It’s really not for us to set out what consultation, what involvement was required, but there is a minimum, and the minimum we say, given the significance of the changes, was not complied with.”
Protesters held banners but stayed at distances during a protest over Grantham Hospital changes last year. Photo: Mel Powles
The trust however, said there had been an urgent need to make the decision, that releasing proposals at an earlier stage could have been confusing, and raised unnecessary concerns if they had changed and that the green site was the only option that met their criteria.
It added that reviews did take place on a regular basis.
Fenella Morris QC, on behalf of the trust, said the requirement to consult was couched in a way that extreme emergencies such as outbreaks might force instantaneous changes and there had to be a balance with other statutory obligations the trust had, such as patient safety.
She said the public were invited to trust board meetings and emails had been sent to stakeholders – including the chairman of the SOS Grantham Hospital group. She added that media interviews had taken place on a regular basis.
“We’ve got huge amounts of evidence both locally and nationally that people were just simply afraid to go to hospital,” she said, adding that the trust had to be fair, not just to those who felt they were losing services, but also to those who were worried about attending healthcare facilities.
“Theclinicalimperativeswerereally,reallypowerful,” she said.
“Where you’ve got such an anxious public having that regular slot on local radio and a Chief Executive that goes on and says this is what we’re doing is a very effective way of reaching out to the public and making sure that they know what’s going on.”
“What is patently the case is that at the time that the proposals were gradually being developed the public wasn’t involved, but it’s also the case that at the point that they did become involved, there was still scope for them to make a contribution to how the outcome would be.
“Where you’ve got a very limited timescale in my submission, that amounts to involvement in development.”
She said that at the time, there had been a “high premium on absolute clarity”.
Mr Justice Linden will now examine the evidence and make a decision at a later date.
The Lincolnite and publishers Stonebow Media have adopted Wind, one of the five community Imps preparing Lincoln for the arrival of an army of their bigger brothers this summer.
Some 30 1.55m tall Imp sculptures will the placed across the city from Newport Arch to St Marks, Brayford Waterfront to Monks Road from July 3 to September 8, 2021.
The sculpture is based on the WH Goss pottery IMP model that was produced by the Falcon Stoke-on-Trent pottery in the late 1800s / early 1900s.
Artists, both professional and amateur, local and national, applied creative, colourful artwork to the Imps army. Each imp has been sponsored by a local business or organisation.
In the meantime, there are five, 1m tall, community Imps that are roving the city:
Rainbow, sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Lincoln, on display at Pre-Loved From Lincolnshire on Burton Road
Fire, sponsored by City of Lincoln Council, on display at the Visitor Information Centre
Sea, sponsored by Continental Landscapes, on display at the Visitor Information Centre
Lightning, on display at Coffee Aroma on Guildhall Street
Wind, sponsored by Stonebow Media, on display at our offices on Rope Walk
Wind is looking out for Cathy from The Lincolnite offices, and there’s a poem on his back. | Photo: Steve Smailes
The artist behind all five community Imps is Leah Goldberg, who previously painted for the Barons and Knights trails in the city, as well as running the Makers Markets, and also working at the Pot Shop on Steep Hill.
Wind, of the five, is the Imp adopted by The Lincolnite, and before he starts his journey through the city, you can catch a glimpse of him in our office window — best viewed from the Engine Shed bridge.
A close-up of Wind’s intricate design, painted by local artist Leah Goldberg. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
There are also a range of smaller education imps, which together with the EBP, are being painted by school children across Lincolnshire for a special trail.
Once the main Imp trail wraps up, organisers Lincoln BIG will auction the statues in aid of St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice charity.
A farewell event will take place at Lincoln Castle between September 9 – 23, with the auction on Lincolnshire Day, October 1.
The roving imps will not be auctioned off, but they will remain as a legacy of the trail.
Daniel Ionescu, Founder and Editor of The Lincolnite, with Wind the Imp. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Daniel Ionescu, Founder and Editor of The Lincolnite, said: “The Imp is certainly the most recognisable mascot for Lincoln, and we won’t let a year’s delay spoil the fun of another trail in the city.
“The Lincolnite’s community dedication and unparalleled reach across Greater Lincolnshire meant it was a no-brainer to get involved with Lincoln BIG and help make the trail a success.
“While lockdown is still in full swing, people can check out Wind from our office window, but we’ll be taking him out soon, so get in touch if you’d like to get him to visit your business or shop.”
Lincoln landmark silhouettes features on the base of Wind’s plinth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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